Other seals that visit our shores occasionally, such as the southern elephant seal/ihupuku and the leopard seal, are found in larger numbers in Antarctic and sub-Antarctic waters.

The populations of many species of large whales, (such as southern right whales and humpback whales) and both our indigenous seals were reduced to near extinction by commercial whalers and sealers of the past two centuries. Some are still threatened or endangered, and now face additional threats from habitat degradation, global climate change, by-catch in fishing operations, entanglement and accumulation of pollutants in the oceans.